Over Butcher’s shoulder, she could see the bed, the sheets muddled, an empty whisky bottle on the table, his clothes strewn all over. The room reeked of sin. With a sinking heart, Lowri realised she could not do it.
She was one of many. Another lass had probably left Butcher’s bed moments before she had turned up. She didn’t want thisman. And no matter what Cullen had done, she could not betray him for a chance to go home, so she would have to find another way.
Butcher’s mouth reached the cleft of her breasts, and Lowri pushed him away.
‘What is it?’ he gasped.
‘I cannot. I must go.’
‘No, stay. I’ll go slow and gentle. You’ll quicken, I promise, many times over, by the time I’ve finished, lass.’ He stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers, as if he was calming a skittish horse.
She was a fool to come and throw her bitterness and anger at the feet of this vile lecher. ‘I am going back to Kildara. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want you.’
Butcher grabbed her arm, and now he was not gentle. ‘Oh no, you don’t. You are not going anywhere until I have tupped the insolence out of you.’ His handsome face became a gargoyle’s snarl as he threw her back onto the bed. She smelled sweat and sex on the sheets. He stood over her, unbuttoning his braies. ‘Take off your clothes and open your legs. You’ll go back to Cullen well used or not at all, bitch.’
‘No,’ she snarled, turning to leap off the bed.
But he was too quick. He leapt on Lowri and straddled her. ‘Think you can tease me, you little witch. Get a man all worked up and leave him swollen with lust.’ He threw back his arm, ready to lash her across the face. Lowri’s hand went to her pocket.
She swept her pistol up to his neck. ‘Get off me, or I’ll blow your brains all over these walls.’ She jammed the pistol against his jugular. ‘I am in earnest. Move!’
Butcher eased off her, and she rushed to the door, keeping the pistol aimed at his face.
‘I wouldn’t have hit you hard,’ he said, then he laughed. ‘A bit of a beating seasons the pleasure. You don’t know what you are missing.’
‘Oh, I do.’
‘You made a grave mistake this day, crossing me.’
‘No, I almost made a grave mistake.’
‘Cullen Macaulay does not deserve your loyalty. He will spit on it.’
‘Maybe, but he has it all the same.’
Lowri rushed away, glancing back in fear, but Butcher did not follow. She reached her horse, all the time dreading a shot ripping into her back, or a knife piercing her ribs. But nothing came, and she rode out of Larne as if all the imps in hell were after her. When she was well clear of the village and sure there was no pursuit, she stopped and stared out at the grey churning sea. Home was across the water, her brother Peyton, safety, and most of all, vengeance on Griffin Macaulay for all he’d put her through. But did that include his son?
***
When she reached Kildara, the sun was low in the sky, and she entered to find Briony Fallstaff wrapped in a blanket, staring into a roaring fire.
The lass leapt up. ‘Oh, you are back.’
‘Where is Cullen?’
‘He went out. He looked for you a good while and went off in a bit of a temper.’ Briony blinked rapidly as if in great distress. ‘Where did you go?’
‘Wherever I pleased,’ said Lowri, then, feeling she had been harsh because of her jealousy for the lass, she said, ‘I had an errand.’
‘Well, I am glad it is just the two of us, for I wanted to thank you for rescuing me last night.’
‘Twas not me. It was Cullen who brought you back from the beach.’
‘Yet I have a recollection of you holding me at night to comfort me,’ she said with a shy smile, her eyes cast down. ‘That was kind. And Cullen was so brave. How strong he was when he carried me up the beach. I was near drowning when I felt his hands on me in those icy depths, which were about to claim my life. And those villains on the beach, doing murder, so awful.’ She shuddered delicately and put trembling fingers to her lips.
Lowri held her hands out to the fire with a forced smile in Briony’s direction. ‘I thought you were insensible, out in a cold faint, Cullen said.’
‘I recall some flashes of the events, but they fill me with such fear. Never in my life have I felt such terror. And ‘tis a fine man you have to protect you. I am sure many women envy you such a husband.’
